Comcast fails to popularize its P2P Bill of Rights
By Triston McIntyre
Comcast, one of the largest cable providers in the U.S., has been receiving a lot of negative attention as of late because of the way it has been throttling Bittorrent and other P2P traffic rather underhandedly. Though suggesting a P2P Bill of Rights doesn’t seem like something that would be endearing to P2P using consumers, the fact that Comcast has ditched the proposal should be counted as a victory not only for P2P users, but all consumers of high-speed internet.
NewTeeVee reports that Comcast has abandoned the sketchy proposal for the regulation of P2P traffic. That might have something to do with the recent hearings at Stanford which were meant to get to the heart of Comcast’s throttling practices; those hearings haven’t presented any real solid outcome, but Comcast is no doubt sweating under the spotlight.
The “Bill of Rights” wasn’t an act of kindness on Comcast’s part in the interests of consumers; full of loose and vague wording, the proposal, had it been adopted by other significant ISPs and companies, would have undoubtedly be used as a tool to legitimize the very practices like bandwidth throttling that Comcast is being investigated for right now.
Though Comcast has abandoned its Bill of Rights, it is jumping onto another bus. There is a new group forming, called the Distributed Computing Industry Association, which is purposed to define new rules for the regulation of the internet. The DCIA will have a huge part in deciding the direction the newer form of P2P, P4P, will take.
The problem for ISPs, and now the DCIA, is that consumer interest groups are hounding the government and ISPs to make sure their rights aren’t infringed, but groups like the MPAA and other media protection groups are pressuring ISPs to limit the amount of traffic users can receive in the interest of protecting copyrighted material.
Hopefully Comcast will have little say in this playground, as it seems to have already made its position infinitely clear on what it thinks of consumers and consumer rights.
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July 31st, 2008
This is really sad. Comcast was actually trying to make Rights that were flexible to p2p users & the industry. But something is telling me that the RIAA & MPAA was involved in getting the P2P Bill of Rights rejected, secretly. Those prehistoric dirtbags are so paranoid that they want to drain everyones’ money who has the Internet & put everyone in prison FOR LIFE (see PRO-IP ACT) for “infringing” copyright.
I can’t help but laugh at the amount of corporate leaders (not just the RIAA) diagnosed with this Copyright Paranoia. One thing is copying a file for personal use; another is copying someone’s work & calling it your own—which is REAL copyright infringment. They’re both completely different. Copying is not the same as Intelectual Copying. But the RIAA & US Congress doesn’t seem to get that. Hasn’t the term ‘cruel & unusual punishment’ ring any bells to any of you arrogant dinosaur-thinking jerks? Or are you guys so blinded with dollar bills that you just don’t want to admit your legislations have caused nothing but trouble since the very start you took down Napster.?
What’s is going on with the world today? Nowadays, companies want to use their Copyright Paranoia to get everyone in trouble with the law. Companies have become so stupid that now anyone can commit a “copyright infringment” & not even know it. The laws don’t even fllow common logic. Their outrageous, & a waste of time, money, & resources. According to the RIAA, if I make a mix CD for a friend I’m infringment the copyright. This is redicules! I’m not going to publish that CD, so why sue? Hasn’t the term ‘cruel & unusual punishment’ ring any bells to any of you arrogant dinosaur-thinking jerks? Or are you guys so blinded with dollar bills that you just don’t want to admit your legislations have caused nothing but trouble since the very start you took down Napster.? Just because you have degrees in law doesn’t make any smarter than me. But at leat I know what the consumers want. Consumers are waking up & they are not liking what their seeing. And as much as I hate to admit, YOU GUYS STARTED IT, & consumers are showing it! What’s next huh? Charging 15 cents everytime someone plays a song, or 25 cents everytime a user mutes the music/movie file? You all are a bunch of cowards & liars & you know it! But don’t worry, The People know how stubborn defacto monopolies can be, so we’ll let you guys learn the hard way.